Pakistan to conduct general census next year

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has decided to hold general census of population and housing unit from March next year after a gap of 17 years, officials said today.

The census being will be completed within three months. "The governing council of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) met on Wednesday and approved a timeline for the census," the official said.

The council meeting, headed by its chairman and finance minister Ishaq Dar also approved a budget of Rs 14.5 billion for the census.

The preliminary results of the census will have to be completed by June 2016 while other activities, including district-wise data reports, may be completed by December, 2017.

The last census was done in 1998 and delayed by successive governments as financial allocations and seats in the parliament are given to federating units on basis of population and the census affects the allocations.

The census also alters the ethnic compositions of provinces, creating tensions.

In Pakistan, governments are bound by law to hold census every ten years.